It feels like I have been reading a lot of books about Afghanistan lately. Some have been fabulous, such as A Thousand Splendid Suns. But, I wonder if in the 80s bookclubs read books about the USSR?

In this book the author met a bookseller and asked if she could move in with his family. He agreed, and she was able to see first-hand the daily lives of an upper-middle-class family living in Kabul.

Though I hated what the women went through, I appreciated the opportunity to read this book. You get to know each family member so well. By the end of the book I really wanted someone to fly to Kabul and rescue the aunt from the life she was being forced to live by her brother and nephew, and I really wanted the oldest son to get hit by a large truck.

The downside of this book is that the family exists. You cannot put this book down and comfort yourself by the fact that it is just fiction. This actually happened and is happening, and it is heartbreaking.